In a last minute opportunity before the Feed-In Tariff change, we are delighted to have squeezed in 20kW of Solar Panels onto the roof of Hamilton House, through the support of Ethical Solar, generating renewable energy that feeds straight into supporting the great work that is done through the range of organisations housed there.

Ethical Solar have paid for and carried out the installation, and we will buy half of the system from them in six months, raising the money through a community share offer! You will hear much more about this in due course...

An additional separate 20kW system has been installed by Bristol Power CIC through private investment.

The whole 40kW system will generate 37,880 kW/hrs of clean electricity each year, saving 450 tonnes of carbon over the lifetime of the system.

That’s large savings on electricity bills for Hamilton House, helping to sustain it as a community hub,

It’s return for Bristol Energy Cooperative and a starter project from which to build a great base of investor-members and get us off the ground in developing community owned green energy in Bristol

And it’s more kudos for Ethical Solar, Regen SW ‘Installer of the Year’, for enabling this to happen – they’ve financed it up front and are also keeping a large stake in the system.

(What’s more, the solar panels have been recycled in hydro-powered factories, so are produced about as energy-efficiently as you get.)So as the days keep getting longer, there’ll be a little more sunlight and a little more clean energy flowing into Hamilton House each day...

What this means for us

Firstly, we're very pleased to have a project up and running before the Feed-In Tariff changes. It has given us a taster of - and a taste for - seeing installations through, and means we've secured a bit of a return for the next 25 years. We’ve developed a strong partnership with both Ethical Solar, and Connolly & Callaghan (owners of Hamilton House), with the potential to work together on future projects.And crucially, there will be a share offer later in spring! We have six months to raise the capital (just £26,000) and are looking at what other projects we can include in a spring share offer. But at the very least, we'll have 10kW worth of Solar PV generating energy and Feed-In Tariff ready for you to invest in/own, and we'll be signing up dozens of individuals and organisations in Hamilton House to take a stake in the panels on their roof.

So - what we’re looking forward to in 2012

A share offer for at least Hamilton House panels

Finding a way to make our original projects work with a changed tariff

Working with community buildings on holistic energy efficiency, and investigating opportunities arising from the Green Deal

Seeking to support and build other projects that grow community-owned energy in Bristol and beyond

In other newsFriends of the Earth have taken the government to court in response to their plans to slash the Feed-In Tariff rate even before the official consultation ends – and they’ve won. A high court judge ruled the government’s plans ‘legally flawed’. The government are now appealing that decision. So watch this space...